While teachers have a continuing responsibility to educate children, the advent of technology has changed the way in which students learn, through the medium of how and where they learn. What began as a one-room schoolhouse has, in effect, come full circle back to possibly a one-room school house once again. What this may mean is that technology has made it possible for teachers to provide courses on the Internet that students can access from anywhere - at home, in the public library, at school, etc. In essence, because of technology, the 21st educational system is encountering a paradigm shift in the way students are taught and the way they learn. One of the dilemmas that educators in the United States face is that of keeping pace with the educational systems worldwide. According to an article in Time magazine on how to bring our schools out of the 20th century, Wallis (2006) wrote, "This is a story about the big public conversation the nation is not having about education, the one that will ultimately determine not merely whether some fraction of our children get "left behind" but also whether an entire generation of kids will fail to make the grade in the global economy because they can't think their way through abstract problems, work in teams, distinguish good information from bad or speak a language other than English."
In keeping with the technology initiatives of the 21st century, educators also must alter the conditions in which students learn. Gone are the days of rote memorization. Students of the current and future generations will be using some form of technology in their education, if not completely immersing their erudition by the use of technology. Instruction is ultimately going to change, including the way teachers manage their classroom behaviors, whether students learn in groups or individually, as well as the tools, resources and means by which students acquire their knowledge, and so on.
Beginning in the 2011 school year, Central Valley School District will begin offering online courses. Two courses (Health and a unit in Financial Literacy) will be offered as an online alternative. Students also have the opportunity to take credit courses online that would otherwise not be available. Two language courses in which students will be able to enroll in through TRECA will expand foreign language learning opportunities for students. The new courses will use features that immerse students in the language of their choice using animation, music, and videos. The students will have daily exercises to practice listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Instructional games, clubs and activities will give students additional cultural opportunities. Students will have access to foreign language teachers and other students who are participating in the course. Students will also work together on student-to-student virtual collaboration assignments.
A description of the courses available are listed below:
Health
Health is a half-credit elective course for high school students designed to cover the basics of human health.
This course incorporates the following:
Taking Responsibility for Your Health; Skills for a Healthy Life
Understanding the Consequences of Substance Abuse
Human Growth and Development
Consumer Health (Being a Healthy Consumer)
Understanding Disease
What to do in an Emergency
This course concludes with an interactive Web-based unit called "The Virtual Body"
Mandarin Chinese
This is a beginning level course that will introduce the student to a variety of areas of Mandarin Chinese (simplified). In this course, the student will learn listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills through activities that are based on pedagogically proven methods of foreign language instruction. Grammar is introduced and practiced in innovative and interesting ways with a variety of learning styles in mind. Culture is sprinkled throughout the course in an attempt to help the learner focus on the Chinese speaking world and their culture, people, geographical locations and histories.
Japanese
This course focuses on successful communication through speaking, writing, reading, and listening, as well as a thorough
grounding in aspects of culture.
Engage in and respond to introductory conversations to exchange greetings and information about self and others.
Describe the origin of the Japanese language, as well as the way telephone numbers are exchanged in Japan.
Recognize appropriate salutations (formal vs. informal) and gestures.
Identify and compare the four different writing systems in Japanese.
Use appropriate symbols to write time and date in Japanese.
Engage in short conversations, interpret, and present basic information about family members, including basic physical descriptions and age.
Financial Literacy Unit
Your Financial Plan: Where It All Begins
Budgeting: Making the Most of Your Money
Investing: Making Money Work for You
Good Debt, Bad Debt: Using Credit Wisely
Your Money: Keeping It Safe and Secure
Insurance: Protecting What You Have
Your Career: Doing What Matters Most
Characteristics of Online Learners
Students usually adapt quickly to the online learning format. Many colleges and universities already have distance learning courses. To be successful in online learning, students should have some of the following characteristics:
Be an independent learner
Computer literate
Have the ability to communicate effectively
Be interested in the concept of web-based learning
Be willing to ask for help when needed
Have the ability to share distance learning problems and/or concerns with others.
Classroom Arrangement
TRECA Digital Academy
The foreign language courses will be available to qualified students. The health course is available to all high school students. Online courses will be scheduled by the guidance counselor in the same manner as the "brick and mortar" courses. The only difference is that the students who enroll in the online courses will be taking the course via telecommunications (which may include Interactive Video Distance Learning - IVDL) in an adapted video-conference room within the school library. Prior to the beginning of the semester, the media specialist will be given the schedule, including a student list. The media specialist will make sure that the proper number of seats and computers will be available and have the room prepared for the teleconference. The students will check-in with the library/media specialist, who will assign the students a laptop from the mobile cart. The online course instructors will be transmitting their course from the TRECA Digital Academy. Students will be responsible for completing homework either at home or during their study hall period. If students have collaborative assignments, the Moodle course management system will be available. If students need assistance with technology, the media specialist will be available. The media specialist will also assure that assistive technology will be available, if necessary. Headphones and cords will be on a cart in the room to be used as needed. Students will leave them on the table after class and the media specialist will clean and put them away.
TRECA teachers can be reached by email, chat rooms or forums during office hours which are posted in video conference room in the library, as well as in the main office of the high school. Parents are encouraged to contact teachers as often as they wish. Students who need help above and beyond the classroom teacher are encouraged to use TRECA Digital Academy's Instructional Support Rooms (ISRs), available to students Monday through Friday. Students can “talk” with live, specialized teachers who provide one-on-one support to students needing extra help or who are having difficulty learning a concept.
Financial Literacy Unit via Moodle
The Financial Literacy instructor(s) will be responsible for instructing students who choose to enroll in an asynchronous online program. One of the Social Studies teacher(s) will work jointly with the county technology coordinator to design an asynchronous online Financial Literacy unit. This instructor has been budgeted with a stipend and release time to design the online unit. The Guidance Counselor will be responsible to make sure each student has the Financial Literacy unit credit before the end of their senior year. The instructor(s) of the course will consist of the high school Social Studies team and will decide among themselves which teacher will monitor the course each semester. Whichever Social Studies teacher monitors the course during the semester will be paid per diem for each student. The instructor, the high school secretarial staff, or the media specialist will be available for students who have problems accessing the Moodle system. Students will take this course either during their study hall period or at home (as long as they have a computer with high speed internet - which students and parents are aware of before registering). If a student is having a difficult time with an aspect of the Financial Literacy unit, they should contact one of the Social Studies teachers that oversee the course as soon as possible with any questions or concerns they may have.
Room accommodations
Students will have access to a room within the library that has been adapted with video-conferencing capabilities, as well as access to 15 hard-wired internet Cat5 Ethernet adapters that were installed in this room in 2009. This room will have access to distance learning via classroom Internet, interactive whiteboards and projector. The library has a consistent temperature, slightly on the cool side - to keep the computers from overheating. The room is meant to be used for video-conferencing (not just for online courses - other teachers will be able to use this room for IVDL, etc., when it is not being used) The lighting has been adjusted for computer use so there is very little glare on laptop screens. The media specialist is aware of various assistive technologies and the students who have IEP's or a 504 plan and need additional assistance. There are always back-up pieces of equipment for assistive technology that are monitored by the media specialist. Those students will be accommodated with whatever services they need, as written in their IEP or 504 plan. The instructors at TRECA will also be aware of students who are on IEP's or a 504 plan and will make accommodations on their end as well.
Potential Problems
In case of computer problems, students will be able to exchange the laptop at the media specialists' desk. In the off-chance that there is a loss of Internet connectivity, arrangements will be made through TRECA to tape the course and post later. The technology coordinator will be notified and will make arrangements for someone to check the connectivity to the room. If connectivity cannot be established, students will use that period as a silent study hall.
Student Drop Policy
Students must maintain regular communication with instructors if they are going to be successful in an online course. Within each course the instructor outlines the weekly minimum work requirements. It is essential that the student and instructor maintain regular contact.
All students are required to sign the following statement upon registration:
I acknowledge that during the first 28 days of being activated into my TRECA course I may drop the course without penalty. I understand that for each online course there are a minimum number of assignments that must be completed each week. Failure to submit the minimum number of assignments on a weekly basis will result in my removal from the course and may result in a failing grade being assigned to my academic transcript. If I drop the course after completing 50% of the class requirements and fail to take the final exam, Tri-River's Educational Computer Association Digital Academy may issue an "F" for my final grade.
To ensure that our students are aware of this commitment, the processes below will be followed.
During the grace period, if the TRECA instructor notices that a student is not progressing as they should, there are a few things the instructor must do prior to removing the student from the course.
1. Contact the student by phone to alert them that they are not making appropriate progress and explain the consequences if such behavior continues once the grace period expires.
2. Contact the parent and guidance counselor at Central Valley High School about the concerns.
3. Log the contacts in the TRECA system.
4. Withdraw the student through TRECA.
Moodle
Moodle (2010) is a free open-source course management system. Technology coordinators from both the school and the county will install and have the program up, running, and tested before it is available for use in the district (refer to "Moodle" on the budget page). For more information, please refer to www.moodle.com, as well as the documents below which have been adapted from the Idaho State University Moodle help page.
Why Moodle?
After much research, debate and consideration, the committee chose Moodle to use as a course management system. Idaho State University did similar research, along with a focus group that investigated switching their service to Moodle. A link to their study is listed below:
MoodleOverview.doc (Idaho State University Instructional Technology Resource Center, 2010)
Moodle_teachers.doc (Idaho State University Instructional Technology Resource Center, 2010)
Classroom and Computer Lab Management Strategies
Introduction
While teachers have a continuing responsibility to educate children, the advent of technology has changed the way in which students learn, through the medium of how and where they learn. What began as a one-room schoolhouse has, in effect, come full circle back to possibly a one-room school house once again. What this may mean is that technology has made it possible for teachers to provide courses on the Internet that students can access from anywhere - at home, in the public library, at school, etc. In essence, because of technology, the 21st educational system is encountering a paradigm shift in the way students are taught and the way they learn. One of the dilemmas that educators in the United States face is that of keeping pace with the educational systems worldwide. According to an article in Time magazine on how to bring our schools out of the 20th century, Wallis (2006) wrote, "This is a story about the big public conversation the nation is not having about education, the one that will ultimately determine not merely whether some fraction of our children get "left behind" but also whether an entire generation of kids will fail to make the grade in the global economy because they can't think their way through abstract problems, work in teams, distinguish good information from bad or speak a language other than English."In keeping with the technology initiatives of the 21st century, educators also must alter the conditions in which students learn. Gone are the days of rote memorization. Students of the current and future generations will be using some form of technology in their education, if not completely immersing their erudition by the use of technology. Instruction is ultimately going to change, including the way teachers manage their classroom behaviors, whether students learn in groups or individually, as well as the tools, resources and means by which students acquire their knowledge, and so on.
Beginning in the 2011 school year, Central Valley School District will begin offering online courses. Two courses (Health and a unit in Financial Literacy) will be offered as an online alternative. Students also have the opportunity to take credit courses online that would otherwise not be available. Two language courses in which students will be able to enroll in through TRECA will expand foreign language learning opportunities for students. The new courses will use features that immerse students in the language of their choice using animation, music, and videos. The students will have daily exercises to practice listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Instructional games, clubs and activities will give students additional cultural opportunities. Students will have access to foreign language teachers and other students who are participating in the course. Students will also work together on student-to-student virtual collaboration assignments.
A description of the courses available are listed below:
Health
Health is a half-credit elective course for high school students designed to cover the basics of human health.This course incorporates the following:
Mandarin Chinese
This is a beginning level course that will introduce the student to a variety of areas of Mandarin Chinese (simplified). In this course, the student will learn listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills through activities that are based on pedagogically proven methods of foreign language instruction. Grammar is introduced and practiced in innovative and interesting ways with a variety of learning styles in mind. Culture is sprinkled throughout the course in an attempt to help the learner focus on the Chinese speaking world and their culture, people, geographical locations and histories.Japanese
This course focuses on successful communication through speaking, writing, reading, and listening, as well as a thoroughgrounding in aspects of culture.
Financial Literacy Unit
Characteristics of Online Learners
Students usually adapt quickly to the online learning format. Many colleges and universities already have distance learning courses. To be successful in online learning, students should have some of the following characteristics:Classroom Arrangement
TRECA Digital AcademyThe foreign language courses will be available to qualified students. The health course is available to all high school students. Online courses will be scheduled by the guidance counselor in the same manner as the "brick and mortar" courses. The only difference is that the students who enroll in the online courses will be taking the course via telecommunications (which may include Interactive Video Distance Learning - IVDL) in an adapted video-conference room within the school library. Prior to the beginning of the semester, the media specialist will be given the schedule, including a student list. The media specialist will make sure that the proper number of seats and computers will be available and have the room prepared for the teleconference. The students will check-in with the library/media specialist, who will assign the students a laptop from the mobile cart. The online course instructors will be transmitting their course from the TRECA Digital Academy. Students will be responsible for completing homework either at home or during their study hall period. If students have collaborative assignments, the Moodle course management system will be available. If students need assistance with technology, the media specialist will be available. The media specialist will also assure that assistive technology will be available, if necessary. Headphones and cords will be on a cart in the room to be used as needed. Students will leave them on the table after class and the media specialist will clean and put them away.
TRECA teachers can be reached by email, chat rooms or forums during office hours which are posted in video conference room in the library, as well as in the main office of the high school. Parents are encouraged to contact teachers as often as they wish. Students who need help above and beyond the classroom teacher are encouraged to use TRECA Digital Academy's Instructional Support Rooms (ISRs), available to students Monday through Friday. Students can “talk” with live, specialized teachers who provide one-on-one support to students needing extra help or who are having difficulty learning a concept.
Financial Literacy Unit via Moodle
The Financial Literacy instructor(s) will be responsible for instructing students who choose to enroll in an asynchronous online program. One of the Social Studies teacher(s) will work jointly with the county technology coordinator to design an asynchronous online Financial Literacy unit. This instructor has been budgeted with a stipend and release time to design the online unit. The Guidance Counselor will be responsible to make sure each student has the Financial Literacy unit credit before the end of their senior year. The instructor(s) of the course will consist of the high school Social Studies team and will decide among themselves which teacher will monitor the course each semester. Whichever Social Studies teacher monitors the course during the semester will be paid per diem for each student. The instructor, the high school secretarial staff, or the media specialist will be available for students who have problems accessing the Moodle system. Students will take this course either during their study hall period or at home (as long as they have a computer with high speed internet - which students and parents are aware of before registering). If a student is having a difficult time with an aspect of the Financial Literacy unit, they should contact one of the Social Studies teachers that oversee the course as soon as possible with any questions or concerns they may have.
Room accommodations
Students will have access to a room within the library that has been adapted with video-conferencing capabilities, as well as access to 15 hard-wired internet Cat5 Ethernet adapters that were installed in this room in 2009. This room will have access to distance learning via classroom Internet, interactive whiteboards and projector. The library has a consistent temperature, slightly on the cool side - to keep the computers from overheating. The room is meant to be used for video-conferencing (not just for online courses - other teachers will be able to use this room for IVDL, etc., when it is not being used) The lighting has been adjusted for computer use so there is very little glare on laptop screens. The media specialist is aware of various assistive technologies and the students who have IEP's or a 504 plan and need additional assistance. There are always back-up pieces of equipment for assistive technology that are monitored by the media specialist. Those students will be accommodated with whatever services they need, as written in their IEP or 504 plan. The instructors at TRECA will also be aware of students who are on IEP's or a 504 plan and will make accommodations on their end as well.Potential Problems
In case of computer problems, students will be able to exchange the laptop at the media specialists' desk. In the off-chance that there is a loss of Internet connectivity, arrangements will be made through TRECA to tape the course and post later. The technology coordinator will be notified and will make arrangements for someone to check the connectivity to the room. If connectivity cannot be established, students will use that period as a silent study hall.Student Drop Policy
Students must maintain regular communication with instructors if they are going to be successful in an online course. Within each course the instructor outlines the weekly minimum work requirements. It is essential that the student and instructor maintain regular contact.
All students are required to sign the following statement upon registration:
I acknowledge that during the first 28 days of being activated into my TRECA course I may drop the course without penalty. I understand that for each online course there are a minimum number of assignments that must be completed each week. Failure to submit the minimum number of assignments on a weekly basis will result in my removal from the course and may result in a failing grade being assigned to my academic transcript. If I drop the course after completing 50% of the class requirements and fail to take the final exam, Tri-River's Educational Computer Association Digital Academy may issue an "F" for my final grade.
To ensure that our students are aware of this commitment, the processes below will be followed.
During the grace period, if the TRECA instructor notices that a student is not progressing as they should, there are a few things the instructor must do prior to removing the student from the course.
1. Contact the student by phone to alert them that they are not making appropriate progress and explain the consequences if such behavior continues once the grace period expires.
2. Contact the parent and guidance counselor at Central Valley High School about the concerns.
3. Log the contacts in the TRECA system.
4. Withdraw the student through TRECA.
Moodle
Moodle (2010) is a free open-source course management system. Technology coordinators from both the school and the county will install and have the program up, running, and tested before it is available for use in the district (refer to "Moodle" on the budget page). For more information, please refer to www.moodle.com, as well as the documents below which have been adapted from the Idaho State University Moodle help page.Why Moodle?
After much research, debate and consideration, the committee chose Moodle to use as a course management system. Idaho State University did similar research, along with a focus group that investigated switching their service to Moodle. A link to their study is listed below:MoodleOverview.doc (Idaho State University Instructional Technology Resource Center, 2010)
Moodle_teachers.doc (Idaho State University Instructional Technology Resource Center, 2010)
LMS_FINAL_REPORT_MOODLE.pdf (Idaho State University Instructional Technology Resource Center, 2010)